As a first year district level Technology Integration Facilitator in my new home of San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), I undoubtedly have a long list of professional development trainings that I must accomplish over the next 3 years. Being employed in an entirely new district brings with it a lengthy list of new and different programs and resources that I had not been exposed to, or rather to the extent that SAISD has utilized them. I have learned so much this first year and am looking forward to learning much more over the next several years as a means of being able to completely fulfill the expectations of my role in the district and better serve the needs of our teachers and students.
In developing my 3-year professional development plan, I took an inventory of what programs and resources my new district had and supported. In my first year of employment, I was assigned to assist with programs for which I had knowledge and expertise. As my knowledge and skills expanded in the other programs, so did my responsibilities. This gradual induction allowed me to perform my duties while simultaneously acquiring new skills. The second and third years of my plan will be dedicated to attending professional development opportunities that focus on such programs as Texas Virtual School Network, Moodle, and CScope.
The use of Moodles in our district is a huge initiative that has been in place for about 3-4 years now. Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, and is basically a free Open Source software package used for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. Before coming to SAISD, I had heard about Moodle, but really had no idea what it was or did. My director, Miguel Guhlin is a big proponent of open source software, and as such has really pushed and supported the use of Moodles in SAISD. I have learned the basic structure of Moodle in the short time I have been in the district, but there is just so much more to learn. For instance, how to back up a Moodle site, how to create other Moodle instances, restore a Moodle site, and other things that would allow me to transition into a more knowledgeable user of Moodle and allow me to better serve the needs of teachers.
Just recently, our district announced plans to adopt and use CScope as our new district Curriculum. Not being familiar with CScope, I know there will be much to learn. It is my responsibility as a technology leader to be able to provide information and guidance on how to successfully integrate technology into our curriculum. For this reason, I must become thoroughly familiar with CScope, by attending any and all necessary professional development trainings that will prepare me to help facilitate its implementation.
San Antonio Independent School District has begun the process of being able to provide additional educational opportunities and options for their students by offering online courses in the near future. The first step in accomplishing this, all district Technology Integration Facilitators are expected to become TxVSN certified instructors. As soon as I have completed my Master’s Program, the first thing to accomplish on my professional development list, is to enroll in the 6 week long program and become a certified TxVSN Instructor. Thus, the third year of my plan, will allow me to fall right in line as an instructor, as the district prepares to provide online courses to its students.
Through my working experience and participation in this Master’s program, one thing that certainly has become apparent is that the learning will never cease. The highly advanced digital world we live in today brings about and creates an ever changing list of new technologies and applications for us to learn and embrace. As educators, we bare the awesome responsibility of preparing our students to be productive citizens in a highly dynamic and challenging workforce. In order to do this, we must first push ourselves to learn and stay abreast of new technologies. For those of us that fall in the category of “Digital immigrants” (Prensky, 2001, p. 2), this is much easier said than done. Nonetheless, it is a vital component for being a successful educator in today’s digital world.
References
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
Professional Development Plan
As a first year district level Technology Integration Facilitator in my new home of San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), I undoubtedly have a long list of professional development trainings that I must accomplish over the next 3 years. Being employed in an entirely new district brings with it a lengthy list of new and different programs and resources that I had not been exposed to, or rather to the extent that SAISD has utilized them. I have learned so much this first year and am looking forward to learning much more over the next several years as a means of being able to completely fulfill the expectations of my role in the district and better serve the needs of our teachers and students.
In developing my 3-year professional development plan, I took an inventory of what programs and resources my new district had and supported. In my first year of employment, I was assigned to assist with programs for which I had knowledge and expertise. As my knowledge and skills expanded in the other programs, so did my responsibilities. This gradual induction allowed me to perform my duties while simultaneously acquiring new skills. The second and third years of my plan will be dedicated to attending professional development opportunities that focus on such programs as Texas Virtual School Network, Moodle, and CScope.
The use of Moodles in our district is a huge initiative that has been in place for about 3-4 years now. Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, and is basically a free Open Source software package used for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. Before coming to SAISD, I had heard about Moodle, but really had no idea what it was or did. My director, Miguel Guhlin is a big proponent of open source software, and as such has really pushed and supported the use of Moodles in SAISD. I have learned the basic structure of Moodle in the short time I have been in the district, but there is just so much more to learn. For instance, how to back up a Moodle site, how to create other Moodle instances, restore a Moodle site, and other things that would allow me to transition into a more knowledgeable user of Moodle and allow me to better serve the needs of teachers.
Just recently, our district announced plans to adopt and use CScope as our new district Curriculum. Not being familiar with CScope, I know there will be much to learn. It is my responsibility as a technology leader to be able to provide information and guidance on how to successfully integrate technology into our curriculum. For this reason, I must become thoroughly familiar with CScope, by attending any and all necessary professional development trainings that will prepare me to help facilitate its implementation.
San Antonio Independent School District has begun the process of being able to provide additional educational opportunities and options for their students by offering online courses in the near future. The first step in accomplishing this, all district Technology Integration Facilitators are expected to become TxVSN certified instructors. As soon as I have completed my Master’s Program, the first thing to accomplish on my professional development list, is to enroll in the 6 week long program and become a certified TxVSN Instructor. Thus, the third year of my plan, will allow me to fall right in line as an instructor, as the district prepares to provide online courses to its students.
Through my working experience and participation in this Master’s program, one thing that certainly has become apparent is that the learning will never cease. The highly advanced digital world we live in today brings about and creates an ever changing list of new technologies and applications for us to learn and embrace. As educators, we bare the awesome responsibility of preparing our students to be productive citizens in a highly dynamic and challenging workforce. In order to do this, we must first push ourselves to learn and stay abreast of new technologies. For those of us that fall in the category of “Digital immigrants” (Prensky, 2001, p. 2), this is much easier said than done. Nonetheless, it is a vital component for being a successful educator in today’s digital world.
References
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.